Garlic and Herb Salmon en Croute

This is something that seems too complicated for home cooks, but I was surprised how easy it was. It all started because we saw them prepare this on one of the cooking shows and it looked so good. Well, now I can confirm it is really good.

There are a bunch of online recipes and variations for this dish. One thing they don’t do well is explain the process so you can be prepared if you haven’t made it before. To start, there are two layers of salmon. If it is a think cut of salmon, cut this one in half lengthwise. If you have thinner cuts of salmon, use a separate filet for each layer. We had thinner cuts so we used a separate fillet for each layer. We served it by cutting it in half and each of us got 1/2 of the dish.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, cut into small dice
• salt and pepper
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mix minced herbs of your choice, such as chives, parsley, tarragon and dill.
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 pounds of skinless salmon filet or multiple smaller fillets
• 1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator for a couple hours, then gently rolled out on a floured surface
• 1 large egg mixed with a splash of water
• Caperberries for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute the mushrooms until they are browned. Then add some salt and pepper and allow to cool.

For the cream sauce, combine the cream cheese with the herbs, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any lemon so we used lemon pepper and it turned out great.

If you have one thick fillet, halve the salmon through the middle into two pieces of equal thickness and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the rolled dough into two pieces across the center. One piece will be the bottom and one will be the top. Place the bottom piece on the baking sheet and center one filet (or the halved one) in the center of the dough. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture on top of the salmon fillet. Place the second salmon fillet on top of the cream cheese mixture and then put the remaining cream cheese mixture on top of the second salmon fillet. Place the mushrooms on top of the cream cheese mixture.

Now, place the top sheet of dough over the mushrooms and then seal the edges of the two pieces of dough. Lightly score the top of the dough with a cross hatch pattern on an angle. Be careful not to cut through the dough or the mushrooms will ooze through during the cooking. You can see in our picture that we did cut through it and the results aren’t pretty, but it tastes wonderful!

Bake the salmon en croute for 25 minutes then brush with the egg wash and bake for an additional 20 minutes to make sure the salmon is fully cooked and until the dough is puffed and golden brown.

We served this with farro risoto and salad for Valentine’s Day.